1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a wired circuit board and a producing method thereof. More particularly, the present invention relates to a wired circuit board such as a suspension board with circuit, and a production method thereof.
2. Description of Related Art
In conventional production methods of wired circuit boards such as a suspension board with circuit, a gold plating layer is provided on a surface of a terminal portion of a conductive pattern. The gold plating layer is formed by electrolytic gold plating in which electric power is fed from feeding pads to the conductive pattern through plating leads.
For example, there has been proposed a method for producing a magnetic head suspension including the following steps: A conductive layer pattern and a plating lead portion (a pad portion) which is electrically connected thereto are integrally formed on a substrate and an insulating layer, and then a covering layer for covering a part of the plating lead portion and having an opening for exposing the conductive layer pattern is formed. Subsequently, electrode pads made of gold are formed on the conductive layer pattern in the opening by feeding electric power from the plating lead portion, and then after the electrode pads are covered with a resist film, the plating lead portion exposed from the covering layer is removed by etching (cf. Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2002-20898).